The first day of a new taxi and rideshare pickup system at LAX seemed chaotic and left many travelers confused.
The ban of curbside taxi, Lyft and Uber pickups started at 3 a.m. Tuesday. Officials at LAX, the second largest airport in the United States, which handled almost 90 million passengers in 2018, introduced in its place LAX-it, a waiting area east of Terminal 1, where passengers can hire cars. The new system, pronounced “LA-exit”, has been off to a somewhat rocky start, but many are hopeful that the kinks will be smoothed out over time.
The new system has travelers walking or taking a shuttle to LAX-it and hiring a car there after taking a shuttle ride that lasts 15 minutes at the most. Around midday, several travelers found themselves waiting for long periods of time for their pickups, as Lyft, Uber and LAX “ambassadors”, some in brightly colored vests, worked to direct traffic.
“I know LAX is a little difficult to navigate in general, but you know, it’s been saying that my driver’s going to get here in five minutes for the past 15-20 [minutes],” said Luis Espino, who was waiting for a Lyft pickup. He described the new system as a “logistical mess” and said that he had been confused about how to find his way to LAX-it.
“It took me a while to actually put two and two together and be like, ‘Oh, this is where I’m supposed to go,’” he said. He added that the ambassadors had eventually helped him.
Lyft driver Vardan Melikyan said he liked the new system because it was easier to identify passengers, but he said that traffic was an issue. He said it had taken him an hour to get from a parking lot near the airport to LAX-it to pick up a rider, but that just as he had arrived, the rider canceled the trip. He guessed the rider just got tired of waiting.
“I lost an hour, and [the rider] lost an hour too,” he said.
Dusty Beach was one of several travelers who said he had been frustrated by the shuttle service. He said that he watched as five empty shuttles drove by a large group of people waiting for a ride.
“I’m sure they had directions to do something, but to just be standing there, waiting on a bus —” he said, trailing off.
Beach added, however, that it was only the first day of the new system, and that it was good something new was being tried.
“I know it was a mess before and you can’t just snap your fingers and make a mess go away,” he said.
Some travelers said they wished there were food trucks.
As it turns out, there were, in the corner of the parking lot, but there were no signs directing people where to find them.
Charles Pannunzio, an LAX spokesman, said the new system is only a temporary solution before the Automated People Mover, an electric train that will pass through the Central Terminal Area, becomes operational in 2023.
“The main reason that we had to do this is that we had to reduce the traffic in the Central Terminal Area while we’re doing the construction of our Automated People Mover train,” he said. “That's really the solution to everything that's going on here right now, to help move more people through the airport. To get there though, with the construction that's going on, especially in the coming couple of years, we're going to lose 30% of the curb space that we have.”
A Lyft spokesperson told Annenberg Media in a statement about a new “Fast Match” feature which has riders lining up for pickup instead of being matched with a driver on the app.
Here’s how it works: the rider gets a code when he or she orders the Lyft. Then, a Lyft ambassador looks at the code and directs the rider into a car.
On Tuesday, a Lyft ambassador, who was directing cars and pedestrians with roller bags, said the app was not working properly for most riders.
Uber declined to comment on the new pickup system.
George Vogrin, who was waiting for his Lyft pickup, said the old system, where Lyft, Uber and taxi drivers could pick riders up directly from the departures area had worked better, but acknowledged it was only the first day of a new system. He said he was hopeful the kinks would be worked out, and that he "would figure it out by the fifth or sixth time.”
“It’s a nice day,” he said. “It’s sunny, it’s not raining. So yeah, that’s a nice way to see LA — in a parking lot.”